Tuesday, December 08, 2009

I'm Not Against You, But...

Daveybloke, the Cuddly Conservative, has been trying to cuddle up to single parents; a group towards which the Conservatives are so amiably disposed that Daveybloke's handlers decided not to tell the media about it. The message, it appears, is that while single people, and even single parents, are almost as good as anyone else provided they keep in their place, Daveybloke believes that married people are more deserving; and while Daveybloke is not "at war" with single parents, he does think it right to discriminate against them. Daveybloke's view is that "there is an importance in trying to say that commitment and relationships and marriage are good institutions"; undoubtedly there is a veritable trickle of clear blue water between this and New New Labour's view that the state has a right to interfere in people's private lives and punish those of whom it disapproves, but I fear the distinction may be too subtle for those who have to pay extra for the privilege of raising their children alone. Daveybloke was very clear that "the flip side of this coin isn't disapproval of those who don't stay together. ... Sometimes, however hard you try, a relationship is not going to work"; and just because you are paying more tax on that account, that does not mean that Daveybloke disapproves of you, even if Daveybloke does approve of married people more. Daveybloke gets the real world. "I get the real world," Daveybloke said, and that pretty much settles that.